Coupons produce a bonanza of savings

Sunday

Oct 23, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Nanette Hoey went to her wallet one day for some dollar bills when her children asked what she was doing as she clipped coupons at the dining room table.“I fanned out the dollar bills and the coupons, and told them they're the exact same thing,” Hoey recalled. “The coupons are money. They know if I don't have the coupon I probably won't buy it.”

James Walsh

Nanette Hoey went to her wallet one day for some dollar bills when her children asked what she was doing as she clipped coupons at the dining room table.

"I fanned out the dollar bills and the coupons, and told them they're the exact same thing," Hoey recalled. "The coupons are money. They know if I don't have the coupon I probably won't buy it."

A 6-foot-long receipt from the Warwick ShopRite provides evidence of Hoey's shopping prowess. Her total bill was $153.50 after $189.07 was saved on 102 products. She used 74 coupons.

Yet Hoey, a graphic designer from Warwick, doesn't consider herself to be a coupon fanatic.

"I'm not an extreme couponer," she said. "You're not going to find cleaning products piled under my kids' beds. I don't stockpile, but I make it a goal every week to save 50 percent on our groceries."

A typical savings is more like 40 percent. The best was 55 percent.

She turned to couponing four years ago to shave her family's grocery bill — she and her husband, Stephen, the operator of a printing company, have four children ages 4-14 — and at about the same time she started to use ShopRite's website to shop from home. While it costs her $12 to have someone else do her shopping, Hoey figures she ultimately saves money.

"If I went shopping with my kids, I'd spend $30 more because I'd give in to things they want," she said. "And I'd probably impulse-shop, too."

Unlike some coupon enthusiasts, Hoey doesn't hop from store to store.

"I'm not going to go one place for shampoo and then another place for something else," Hoey said of not wanting to waste time and gas.

What Hoey does do is link her coupons to sales to maximize their value. Consider a recent peanut butter purchase. A jar was marked down to $2.39 from $2.49. Hoey had four 50-cent coupons that were doubled. Her final price was $1.39 per jar.

Hoey has a binder with baseball-card sleeves in which she arranges coupons by product. It's as thick as an old Manhattan telephone directory.

Newspapers are the best source, says Hoey, who suspects her Sunday Times Herald-Record is sometimes swiped by a coupon fiend. "They also go into the stores and take the inserts," Hoey warns.

She gets coupon inserts from her mother in Bergen County, N.J., and occasionally buys pre-clipped coupons on eBay, where Hoey advises saving time by focusing on ones instantly for sale and not entering a bidding war. It's also a good idea to check expiration dates. The farther away, the more time to link the coupon to sales.

ShopRite spokesman Tom Urtz said last week that coupon usage was rising. It appeared to be part of a consumer trend toward more organized shopping aimed at saving time and gas by making fewer trips to the store, as well as saving grocery money.

"You're definitely seeing the influence of the shows," Urtz said of the "Extreme Couponing" television program. "People are coming in with binders like you see on the show. Your basic, mainstream consumer is taking a more active role; they're much more organized in their shopping trip. And given the economy, people are taking a more detailed approach to shopping."

Hoey isn't a hoarder like some people on television who've transformed basements and garages into minimarts. She says she buys what she needs, stocks up on some things, and makes regular donations to the Warwick Food Pantry. Her expired coupons go to overseas military bases, where they can be used by soldiers and their families.

She'd like to see more people using coupons.

"I think there's a stigma: Either you're desperate, or you're only buying junk foods, processed foods," said Hoey, who says there are plenty of healthy coupon buys, including fresh produce.

Hoey estimates she spends a half-hour weekly clipping coupons (daughter Madeline, 14, helps arrange them now and then), and another hour shopping online.

"In the beginning it took some time, but it's not rocket science; it's coupons," Hoey said. I don't understand it when I see people not using coupons. It's like throwing money away."

jwalsh@th-record.com

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